University of Twente Student Theses

Strategies in virtual anatomical learning

The present study examined the use of verbal-analytical and visual-spatial strategies in anatomical learning. An interference paradigm and a questionnaire were used to identify these strategies in a test that was used to assess knowledge that participants had acquired after studying two computerized 3D models of human anatomy. Relations of cognitive abilities with strategy use were also examined. Individual differences in effects of two interference tasks suggest that under single task conditions individual differences in strategies existed. However, these strategies were neither pure verbal-analytical, nor pure visual-spatial as the results indicate that the strategy that was used relied on both verbal-analytical and visual-spatial working memory resources. Although both resources were required, the latter was thought to be the most important of the two. The extent to which participants relied on either resource was suggested to be mediated by their cognitive abilities.